| Cathedral City Newsletters May Newsletters Cathedral City Helps Residents Fight Identity Theft Commission/Committee Vacancies City Of Cathedral City City Council Taking Its Message To The Community New 2-1-1 Community Resource Line CC Fire Dept - Community Emergency Response Team Training
The City of Cathedral City is committed to protecting its citizens and the environment through its many programs, heightening awareness and raising the quality of life for all. Cathedral City's Environmental Conservation division is sponsoring a Document Shredding event on Sat., May 7th, 10am-2pm, Buddy Rogers Ave., east of the Mary Pickford Theatre. Identity Theft is one of the fastest growing crimes nationwide. Skilled identity thieves use a variety of methods to gain access to your personal information including sifting through your trash for documents, old tax filings, credit offers, bank and mortgage statements and all other personal identification. In helping the community fight Identity Theft, the city's Environmental Conservation Division is sponsoring this FREE Document Shredding Event to Cathedral City residents ONLY. Residents can bring any and all documents to the shredding site and watch the shredding machine in action. There is no limit to the amount of documents to be shredded. For more information on this or any recycling project call 770-0369.
The City of Cathedral City is announcing vacancies on several Commissions/Committees with terms to begin immediately upon appointment. The deadline to apply is 6:00 p.m., Thursday, June 2nd, 2005. Applications are available at the City Hall reception desk and can be downloaded from the City's website at www.cathedralcity.gov for more information; please call the Office of the City Clerk at 760-770-0322. City Hall is open Monday thru Thursday; 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. PLEASE NOTE THAT CITY HALL IS CLOSED EVERY FRIDAY. Interviews will be conducted before the City Council at the June 8th, City Council meeting, after which appointments will be made. All qualified persons are encouraged to apply. List of Current Vacancies on Committees & Commissions
Here's another program benefiting Cathedral City residents. Cathedral City is the first municipality in the nation to adopt a SHARPS program for free and safe disposal of syringes and lancets. DID
YOU KNOW... DID
YOU KNOW... HOW
TO PARTICIPATE... The City of Cathedral City and Waste Management of the Desert strongly encourage self-injectors to use the program responsibly. For more information contact the City's Environmental Conservation Manager at 770-0369.
The City Council has scheduled a series of community meetings over next several months. The meetings are scheduled the third Tuesday, every other month. The series The next community meeting is for the Rio Vista residents. The meeting is Tues. May 10, 6:30pm, at Rio Vista Elementary School, in the Multi-Purpose Room. The meetings will focus on issues related to the neighborhood, as well as update residents on current development, city news and issues. Aside from Council, representatives from the Police, Fire and City Hall Staff will be on hand to answer questions from residents. For more information call Lynn Mallotto at 770-0346.
The public is familiar with 9-1-1 for emergency calls, and 4-1-1 for telephone information. Beginning July 1st, Cathedral City residents can dial 2-1-1 for community services ranging from child protection to elder care. This is a County program aimed at providing easy access to a variety of social and human services throughout the area. Citizens on Patrol (COP) assists the Cathedral City Police Department with as "additional eyes & ears" in the community. COP volunteers assist with office duties, traffic control, events and ride-alongs. Residents with the time to volunteer a few hours a week are encouraged to become members. Contact Bill or Pam Cohen at 321-0148. Cove Neighborhood Action Group (CNAG) meets on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at the Pomona First Federal Community Room at 6pm. CNAG is a neighborhood action group addressing issues dealing with the Cove neighborhood. The Cove neighborhood is the area bordered by East Palm Canyon south to Foothill. Currently, CNAG is taking an active role in the effort to bring sewers and a pocket park to the Cove. CNAG is currently discussing the re-activation of a Neighborhood Watch Program in cooperation with the Cathedral City Police Department. 35th Avenue Neighborhood Watch Group meets on the 4th Thursday of the month at 7pm. The 35th Avenue Group actively supports the Fire Department and the Salvation Army. For information call 327-0165. The Hermosillo Road Neighborhood Watch Group meets at 7pm, the first Wednesday of each month to address concerns of Hermosillo Road residents. For further info write hermosillowatch@dc.rr.com or call Shilo at 327-7111. The Cathedral City Boys and Girls Club provides after school programs, as well as, evening programs for teens. The club is located at 32-141 Whispering Palms Trail (just south of Ramon Road). Call 324-5844 for more information. The Cathedral City Senior Center, 68-727 East Palm Canyon Drive, offers a wide variety of programs for seniors, from dancing and exercising, o languages, sewing, bingo, music, and so much more! The Senior Center offers the California Homeowners' and Renters' Rebate program. Call 321-1548 for an appointment. The Cathedral City Chamber of Commerce sponsors two monthly networking events. The Chamber Power Breakfast is on the first Wednesday of the month, 7am, Doral Desert Princess Resort. This month's Power Breakfast is Feb. 2nd . A Membership Mixer is hosted on the third Thursday of the month, 5:30 to 7pm. Call 328-1213 for information about membership and other Chamber projects assisting Cathedral City businesses. This month's Membership Mixer is at the Desert Palms Inn. The Cathedral City Library, at the corner of Date Palm Drive and Dave Kelley Road, offers a wide range of activities for children and adults. Also, the Friends of the Library sponsor an ongoing book sale and opportunities to donate books, as well as participate in volunteer programs. Call 328-4262 for more information.
The Cathedral City Police Department has a sample letter you can send to the three credit reporting agencies. You may copy it for all three, fill in the blanks, and keep a copy for yourself. Make sure that you send it Return Receipt Requested and keep the postal receipt with your copy. We cannot guarantee that the three credit reporting agencies will honor these requests. I can tell you that law enforcement is actively working to help consumers by promoting protective legislation on the Federal and State levels.
In addition, please consider the following to assist you in reducing the risk of Identity Theft. Purchase a cross-cut type shredder. A good one should cost approximately $60 - $70. Shred all your important papers and especially pre-approved credit applications received in your name and other financial information that provides access to your private information. Don't forget to shred your credit card receipts. Be careful of "Dumpster Diving." Make sure that you do not throw anything away that someone could use to become you. Anything with your identifiers must be shredded (cross-cut) before throwing away.
For over 8 years a special group of law enforcement volunteers commonly known as Citizens on Patrol, or "C.O.P's", have been working hard to help keep our city safe, performing non-enforcement duties, and by being the eyes and ears for our local police officers, plus helping to free up our officers time. Our own Cathedral City Citizens on Patrol group is still very much alive and well. We have two patrol cars for use on their daily patrols of our streets and neighborhoods, plus you've probably seen us in our uniforms assisting at many special events in front of City Hall, and throughout the city. We Citizens On Patrol have continues to provide hundred of volunteer hours to our community assisting out police officers and providing a quality public service. Our C.O.P.'s can be seen helping our officers at traffic accidents by setting cones and flares and directing traffic away from the scene, keep our officers safe. Some of our other duties include being Crossing Guards at several local schools, and also helping out and assisting the officers within the police station. In this month's issue, I want to talk about the California Vehicle Code sections that deal with yielding to other vehicles. Once again, Cathedral City Police investigated a collision that resulted in a fatality due to a failure to yield violation. On March 22 in the early afternoon, traffic was heavy in the area of Date Palm, south of Ramon Road. Southbound traffic in the number one and two lanes (left and middle) stopped and allowed a driver to make a left turn in front of them. The driver began her turn, not knowing that a third car in the number 3 lane (closest to the curb) was approaching. As she continued into her turn, she was broadsided by the southbound car. This resulted in the death of her passenger. California
Vehicle Code section 21801(a) states: Section
21801(b) refers to oncoming vehicles approaching the turning vehicle: Section
21804 deals with entry onto a highway or roadway from public or
private property. It reads: (b) A driver having yielded as prescribed in subdivision (a) may proceed to enter or cross the highway, and the drivers of all other vehicles approaching on the highway shall yield the right of-way to the vehicle entering or crossing the intersection.
After this collision, I researched the primary collision factors for crashes in our city in 2004. Speed was the most prevalent, at 29%. The next highest was failure to yield at 26%. At a far distant were red light violations at 6%. Please, please, please, DO NOT ALLOW TURNING MOVEMENTS LIKE THIS! Take the nasty looks from people and remind yourself that you may just have saved their life. Drivers in the curb lane - when passing traffic that is stopped next to you, slow down and be ready for those unsafe turning movements that will happen in front of you! Take the time, drive carefully and defensively! Please refer questions to Officer Mike Van Gorder, attn "Traffic Corner" at mvangorder@cathedralcity.gov.
|
Identity
Theft occurs when someone wrongfully uses your personal identification
to obtain credit, loans, services, even rentals and mortgages in
your name. They may even commit crimes while impersonating you!
Identity Theft is a frightening and overwhelming experience if it
does happen to you. You may not know it is happening for months
or years! It is our desire at the Cathedral City Police Department
to help you prevent the nightmare too many others have gone through.
Please
also know that these protective measures will not guarantee that
a criminal will not get access to your credit from a "less than
cautious" credit grantor. As you know, there are many ways to steal
private information about you (i.e., anyone who has access to your
social security number and other identifying information.) All of
these offices have your information: Your doctor, accountant, lawyer,
loan officer, health insurance, schools, courts, etc. A shady employee
of these people could steal your identity! Remember, you don't have
to lose your wallet or have it stolen to become a victim of identity
theft.
Many
times, people with think they are doing a favor by letting a driver
turn left in front of them. What those drivers don't realize is
that they are jeopardizing the safety and lives of those involved.
In last month's collision, the drivers that allowed the driver to
turn in front of them left the scene and didn't even stop to assist.
From a legal standpoint, they are not responsible for the crash;
however, from a moral standpoint, they certainly have a play in
what happened. Had those drivers not allowed the turning movement,
or at least checked traffic to their right, this horrible crash
would not have occurred.
